As we approach Pentecost Sunday on May 24th, it is a good time to examine the Holy Spirit in our lives and all that He means to the church of Jesus Christ and to us as individuals.
Jesus told His disciples that it was “expedient” that He go away so He could send the Comforter to us (John 16:7). The Holy Spirit is such a wonderful friend, counselor and guide to us. He is our teacher and “prayer partner” (Romans 8:26) and intercedes for us (Romans 8:27). What a wonderful gift He is to us. The Holy Spirit is the One who was hovering over the vast chaos at creation and who brought order at the beckon of God’s spoken Word.
He is the One who empowered prophets and kings to do the will of the Lord. By His power, men parted seas, slew giants and defeated vast armies. By His power, the earth yielded a 100 fold return of crops in time of famine and released floods over the earth at the Word of the Lord. By His power, the dead were called back, the sick were healed and the demons were cast out. By His power, the church was birthed and weak, uneducated men preached and thousands were saved.
Acts 10:38 tells us that Jesus was anointed by the Holy Spirit and went about doing good, healing the sick and casting out devils, because God was with Him. So is there any reason that we would think that we can continue to do the work we have been called to do without Him? If the prophets and kings needed the Holy Spirit, do we not? If Jesus needed the Holy Spirit, do we not? If the Apostles of the New Testament needed Holy Spirit, do we not? Are we so arrogant and self-reliant to think that what was birthed in the Spirit can now be continued on in the flesh without Him?
The Holy Spirit is a vital part of the life of the church and without Him, we are nothing more than an organization with a “form of godliness, but without the power” (2 Tim 3:5). We need only look at the condition of the church at large and see what the church looks like without Holy Spirit. We see ministries with great programs but no power. We see a “gospel” that entertains but does not change lives. We see men and women exalted above others rather than being the servant leader they are called to be. We see churches with reputations for being alive, but are indeed dead and yielding no real fruit. We see a love for fame, fortune, notoriety and not a love for God. We see prayerlessness at a rampant level in the churches across our nation.
I gave our church a challenge to just pray 30 minutes (in the Spirit) each week for the church. What if every Christian in this nation just prayed 5 minutes a day for the church? I believe we would see a nation get healed. I believe we would see righteousness and holiness return again to the church. I believe Christians would begin to cry out for more of God. I am asking us to pray in the Spirit the perfect will of God concerning His Church. Allow the Holy Spirit to pray the divine mysteries of heaven concerning His church and this nation.
The solution to our problems is not the political party in office or the next President of the United States. The solution is the church. God promises us that if we repent, seek His face and turn from our wicked ways that He will heal our land. (2 Chron 7:14) We desperately need Holy Spirit and prayer language of the Spirit? How can anyone know how to pray during these very dark times we are living today? But, God knows and the Holy Spirit knows and He will intercede for the saints.
Romans 8:26–27 (ESV) — 26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. 27 And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
1 John 5:14–15 (ESV) — 14 And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.
